a conversation between machines about Mallarmé (regarding the state of the gallery lights), 2023
Wooden shelf, receipt printer, thermal paper, wiring and conduit, custom software, annotated text file containing Stéphane Mallarmé's poem "Un coup de dés jamais n'abolira le hasard," Large Language Model (LLM) cloud service account, single-board computer.
Rotterdam, NL
Marissa Lee Benedict and David Rueter
next: Metrica
a conversation between machines about Mallarmé (regarding the state of the gallery lights), 2023, Rotterdam, NL
Every 60 seconds, a receipt printer, mounted on a shelf customized to the exhibition space, queries a remote Large Language Model AI service as to whether the gallery lights should be turned on or off.
The service is asked to provide a brief rationale for its decision of "ON" or "OFF," considering successive lines from Stéphane Mallarmé's poem "Un coup de dés jamais n'abolira le hasard," as well as the current local time and wind direction. The printer records each exchange on thermal paper, which falls to the floor after printing. Each query costs the owner of the artwork a fraction of a cent.
Every 60 seconds, a receipt printer, mounted on a shelf customized to the exhibition space, queries a remote Large Language Model AI service as to whether the gallery lights should be turned on or off.
The service is asked to provide a brief rationale for its decision of "ON" or "OFF," considering successive lines from Stéphane Mallarmé's poem "Un coup de dés jamais n'abolira le hasard," as well as the current local time and wind direction. The printer records each exchange on thermal paper, which falls to the floor after printing. Each query costs the owner of the artwork a fraction of a cent.
